UK and Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council

Monday 19th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (David Rutley)]

My noble Friend, the Minister of State (Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment), Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park, has made the following written ministerial statement:

On Thursday 11 and Friday 12 May, I chaired the tenth UK-Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council in London. The Council was attended by elected leaders and representatives from Anguilla, Ascension Island, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St Helena, the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Tristan da Cunha and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The overseas territories are a core part of the British family. The 14 overseas territories span the globe and allow the UK to lay claim to being a truly global Britain. The UK has a constitutional responsibility to ensure security, good governance and prosperity for the British nationals and inhabitants of the territories.

The key themes of discussion at this year’s Council were the partnership between the UK and the overseas territories, law enforcement and irregular migration, economic and financial resilience, environment and climate change, healthcare and maritime strategy.

I, in my capacity as Minister for the Overseas Territories, chaired the Council. Other ministerial colleagues attending the discussions included the Treasury Lords Minister (Baroness Penn), the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Trudy Harrison), the Minister for Health and Secondary Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince), and representatives from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

The Council agreed priorities and set out commitments and areas for joint work in the year ahead. Representatives welcomed the announcement of a new UK Government strategy on the overseas territories, towards a modern partnership, which will be developed in collaboration with overseas territories Governments. The overseas territories also welcomed the announcement that each Government Department will have an assigned Minister responsible for their Department’s relationship with the territories. I will chair meetings with these Ministers to ensure all parts of the UK Government are working collectively to provide our overseas territories with the support required.

We discussed the importance of protecting the unique environments and biodiversity in the overseas territories, recognising that the territories are on the frontline of the effects of climate change. Overseas territories leaders reaffirmed their support for net zero and energy transition ambitions. We discussed and agreed a new ministerial-level annual dialogue focused on tackling illicit finance and a technical working group on beneficial ownership transparency.

Representatives welcomed the progress in implementing the long-awaited reforms to the NHS quota system, which brings equity in approach to the overseas territories enabling access to the NHS for a limited number of people from each territory.

We agreed a joint communiqué, which was issued following the conclusion of the conference and was published on the gov.uk website.

The communiqué and associated press statement reflects the joint commitment of the Governments of the overseas territories and the UK to deepen our unique and modern partnership. We will continue to fulfil our constitutional and moral obligations to the overseas territories. In line with the commitment set out in the June 2012 White Paper, “The Overseas Territories: security, success and sustainability”, we will continue to report to Parliament on progress by Government Departments.

[HCWS855]